Monthly Archives: March 2012

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The Dodgers (14-12-4) overcame a rare bad outing by Clayton Kershaw, scoring six runs off the Arizona bullpen to break open a 3-3 game before an announced crowd of 12,799 at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. [box score]

Matt Angle went 1-for-2 with his first Cactus League home run, a two-run shot in the eighth inning off Keith Hessler. Justin Sellers went 1-for-2 with a two-RBI single in the sixth. Dee Gordon went 2-for-3 and 10 other Dodgers collected one hit each.

Gordon stole his 11th base of the spring in the first inning; he was caught for the fourth time an inning later. Relievers Josh Lindblom, Ronald Belisario, Scott Rice, Stephen Ames and Wil Ledezma did not allow a run over the final 5 1/3 innings.

Kershaw allowed six hits and three earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. More on him in tomorrow’s editions. A few more notes:

Chris Capuano is the Dodgers’ number three starter for the immediate future.

The decision was made Friday afternoon that left-hander Ted Lilly would begin the season on the disabled list and miss his first scheduled start on April 7 in San Diego. Capuano will make that start, as well as Lilly’s second scheduled start five days later against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Dodger Stadium. Assuming his stiff neck isn’t a problem on April 14, Lilly will make his regular-season debut that day at home against the Padres.

“We just don’t feel like he’s going to be ready,” manager Don Mattingly said. “If it was an emergency or something, we had to push to get him ready for this start, he could take the ball. But that’s not what we want for his first time out.”

Lilly threw a bullpen session earlier Friday with coaches and trainers looking on. Afterward he said his neck was “maybe a little stiff” and was willing to acquiesce to the coaches’ decision.

“Teddy kind of molded to the thought that it’s probably the best way to go,” Mattingly said.

The manager said Lilly would likely throw a simulated game Monday, then make a rehabilitation start “probably (in) the Cal League.”

Tempers flared in a loss to the Brewers in Glendale, and the Dodgers rapped out 11 hits to beat the Cubs in Mesa, in the team’s final day of split-squad action in spring training.

Both benches were warned in the sixth inning of a 9-4 loss to Milwaukee after Dodgers starter Chris Capuano threw a pitch behind Ryan Braun. That followed a series of hit batters –one (Norichika Aoki) by Capuano and two (Jerry Hairston Jr. and Juan Rivera) by Milwaukee pitchers earlier in the game.

That was the end of the drama, however, and the Brewers scored eight runs over the final three innings to erase a 4-2 deficit.

Capuano allowed two hits, one (earned) run on a solo shot by Braun, walked one and struck out seven in six innings. His Cactus League ERA stands at 2.75. Matt Guerrier relieved him in the seventh inning and gave up a 3-run home run to the first batter he faced, Brooks Conrad, in his first game since March 11.

Guerrier was actually pitching his third game in five days, including minor-league games, and afterward declared himself free of any back pain and healthy to start the season.

“As far as I am concerned, (the injury) was over a week ago,” he said.

The Brewers’ Carlos Gomez hit a three-run home run off losing pitcher Jamey Wright in the seventh inning. Todd Coffey gave up three hits and four runs — none earned, thanks to a Jake Lemmerman error –in two-thirds of an inning. His spring ERA ballooned to 7.71.

The decision as to when Ted Lilly will make his first start of the season isn’t up to the veteran left-hander. But with two trainers, a manager, a pitching coach, three other starting pitchers and seven reporters looking on, Lilly made his pitch –pun intended– with an “intense” bullpen session Friday morning.

Lilly, who is recovering from a stiff neck, threw his full arsenal of pitches in a session at Camelback Ranch that lasted more than 10 minutes.

“I don’t feel any pain,” he said afterwards. “Maybe a little stiff but there’s nothing that’s grabbing me anymore. I feel like I can pretty much go through my normal delivery, make a normal throw.”

Lilly would likely throw a simulated game between now and next Saturday in San Diego if the team believes he is ready — a necessary step since he hasn’t pitched in a spring game since March 16.

“Normally I don’t throw that many in the bullpen, or I felt like my effort was maybe a little more intense than usual,” he said. “It’s been a while. I wanted to find out where it was. I threw a few (pitches) that were game speed.”

The alternative is that Lilly could be placed on the 15-day disabled list and Chris Capuano would start against the Padres next Saturday instead.

On the surface, it seems like a close call. Lilly was originally supposed to throw his bullpen session Thursday but the team pushed it back a day. Said Lilly, “I definitely feel quite a bit better today than yesterday even, yeah.”

Manager Don Mattingly could deliver the verdict after today’s split-squad game against the Brewers at Camelback.

Aaron Harang threw six strong innings, but the White Sox (11-15) prevailed against the Dodgers (12-11-4) before an announced crowd of 5,091 at Camelback Ranch. [box score]

Harang allowed six hits — all singles — walked one, and struck out six in six innings. Three of those singles came in the fifth inning, allowing Chicago to score its only run against the 6-foot-7 right-hander. Harang threw 104 pitches, 66 for strikes, and left with the score tied 1-1. In his last two starts, spanning 11 innings, he has allowed two runs and 11 hits.

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